Kerala Finance Minister K.N Balagopal presented the State budget for 2024-25, proposing a deficit of ā¹273.94 crore, after accounting for ā¹1,067 crore in additional resource mobilisation and ā¹1,420 crore in additional expenditure.
Budget
Kerala Finance Minister K.N Balagopal presented the State budget for 2024-25, proposing a deficit of ā¹273.94 crore, after accounting for ā¹1,067 crore in additional resource mobilisation and ā¹1,420 crore in additional expenditure. Most tax heads and the pet theme of welfare pension were untouched, while fees/ levy were revised, and a gallonage fee of ā¹10 per litre of IMFL was introduced afresh. The Finance Minister raised the support price of rubber by ā¹10 to ā¹180 ādespite financial constraintsā. As per the Centreās guidelines, Keralaās eligible borrowing limit is ā¹39,626 crore, based on which the State Budget was prepared. But it has been allowed to borrow only ā¹28,830 crore till now. Balagopal proposed a revision of electricity duty collected at the rate of 1.2 paise per unit to 15 paise per unit to raise ā¹24 crore. This would be enhanced to 10 paise per unit, which is expected to bring in an additional ā¹101.41 crore. A filing fee of 0.1 percent of the loan amount subject to a maximum of ā¹10,000 will be charged from the financial institutions for this. This is expected to bring in an additional revenue of ā¹50 crore.
Capital- Thiruvananthapuram
Chief minister- Pinarayi Vijayan
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